From a technology perspective, the wireless power world is very fragmented. Wireless power can be delivered via magnetic inductive mode or electrostatic capacitive mode. In the magnetic inductive mode, the wireless power systems are configured to operate either at a resonant fixed operating point or in a non-resonant variable operating regime. The resonant scheme is typically used when the level of magnetic field coupling between the wireless power transmitter and the wireless power receiver is weak while the non-resonant schemes are used when the level of magnetic field coupling is strong. And within the resonant and non-resonant schemes, there are multiple flavors and communication protocols between the wireless power transmitter and wireless power receiver.
Original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and consumers have real trouble understanding and sorting through these varied technologies. As a result, market adoption of wireless power technology has stagnated. Attempts are being made to converge these diverse approaches but given the differences, it is very hard to unify and gain agreement for a common standard. In such a wireless power technology fragmented world, a universal wireless power charger that supports multiple modes, multiple coupling schemes and multiple protocols is the smarter and simpler solution. It would provide great flexibility for consumers to own and enjoy mobile devices that have different wireless power technologies integrated or externally attached to the mobile device.
Wireless power systems in the market today are not flexible; they operate in a single wireless power transfer mode, operate in one of either weak or strongly coupled scheme and typically support only one wireless power protocol. They are usually limited in the type and power range of devices that they can wirelessly charge. Most wireless power transmitters charge mobile phones and lack the construction to effectively wirelessly charge higher power devices such as tablets and notebooks or ultra-low power devices such as Bluetooth headsets. Having different wireless power transmitter sources for different types of devices would be cumbersome and adding to the chaos created by existing disparate wired charging solutions. It would be great convenience for consumers to charge their mobile devices such as their cameras, Bluetooth headsets, game controllers, mobile phones, tablets, notebooks etc., all from the same wireless power transmitter source. Besides, consumers would more readily embrace wireless power if wireless power were ubiquitously available around them. In every room, there is a wall-wart that provides wired power; similarly, in every room, there would need to be a source of wireless power to wirelessly charge portable devices. It would be space prohibitive and uneconomical to consider a wireless power pad in every room. An alternate approach would be to purposefully develop and smoothly integrate the wireless power transmitter into other non-portable devices such as a liquid crystal display (LCD) monitor, a printer, a television, etc.
Therefore, there is an unmet need for a multi-mode multi-coupling multi-protocol wireless power transmitter that interoperates with a large range of wireless power receivers that operate in different power transfer modes with different levels of magnetic flux and electrostatic linkages and wireless power protocols, scales smoothly to satisfy the power needs of different wireless power receivers, and integrates easily into a portable electronic device or a non-portable electronic device, for providing flexible, scalable, and ubiquitous availability of untethered power to the wireless power receivers located in the vicinity of the wireless power transmitter.